This is a study of expressive culture in Ifaluk (an atoll in Micronesia), Kiryat Yedidim (an Israeli kibbutz), and Yeigyi (a village in Upper Burma). Its intent is to discover the extent to which cultural systems are used as psychological defenses for the handling of conflict related to aggression, sex and dependency; if they are so used, to compare the manner they are used across these three groups; and to relate them to family structure and early experience.